BioShock: Rapture Paperback – June 26, 2012

This book is absolutely excellent. I did not play the BioShock games, but I was vaguely familiar with them and with Ayn Rand's ideas prior to reading the book. I enjoyed the book so much that I almost did not want it to end. I wanted to know more about all the other intricacies of the city (e.g., more details about incidents that were only explained in passing). But overall, still, a really good book that is both entertaining and captivating, while posing important questions that will keep you thinking about the book long after you finished it.I have some thoughts about the plot that contain spoilers, so don't read further if you are still planning to read the book!*******Spoilers Ahead*******The book really elegantly captures how people use ideas (especially Marxist ideas) to persuade and gain the confidence of vulnerable individuals. Ultimately, these people's true intention is not to help those vulnerable individuals, but rather to satisfy their own desire for power. The individuals (in this case, the ordinary and particularly the downtrodden citizens of Rapture) are just pawns in their game to overthrow the person who is in power (i.e., Andrew Ryan) so that they can become the leaders of Rapture (i.e., Lamb and Fontaine).So what exactly was it that caused Rapture to fail so spectacularly? I mean, Andrew Ryan founded the city upon such good intentions?!? He had it all figured out, right? ;)The irony of what Andrew Ryan says in the beginning about what Rapture will be and what he eventually ends up doing when things start to unravel is made clear in the book. He basically goes from being this cross between Ayn Rand and Rockefeller to someone not much different to Lenin or Stalin.But where specifically did he go wrong? I have a few ideas:- His need to control the city in a top-down (central planning) manner was most likely his biggest mistake. This is ironic, given that his philosophy of how Rapture would be governed (at least in the beginning) was more akin to a libertarian point of view. However, he never relinquished power, nor was he particularly open to the perspectives of others. Consequently, Rapture never really developed naturally as a society, but was heavily top-down engineered from the start. The chances of it becoming a libertarian utopia was therefore dead from the get-go.- Ryan's civic education program was also a bad idea. Of course, he also chose the worst possible person for the job, but even if he did not choose someone that was basically out to usurp him from day one, the desire to educate people into liking Rapture was a tenuous idea at best. I understand that he had (seemingly) good intentions with it: he assumed that people might not enjoy their stay in Rapture because they do not understand how bad it really is out there and how brilliant the philosophy that underpins Rapture really is. He understood that he needed people to buy into the philosophy of Rapture, in order for them to identify with and contribute to the city in a meaningful way. But then he should have done that education *before* people were allowed into Rapture, not afterwards when they have already made the commitment. Moreover, as a Research Psychologist, I can say with conviction that social education programs are controversial (I guess I am sceptical of people that feel that these kinds of programs are necessary in the first place). These types of programs are often used in insidious ways, without people's consent, in order to further top-down goals which may not always be to the benefit of the individual (which once again goes against Ryan's original ethos). The assumption that people's lack of understanding is what is driving their behaviour is also flawed, because other factors, such as their social environment, also play important roles in shaping their behaviour.- Not allowing people to leave the city was probably one of his worst decisions. I understand that he felt it necessary to isolate the city as much as possible, and keep it a secret from the outside world, but forcing people to stay just does not seem practical or humane. In any normal community, people invariably come and go. If people enjoy living there and (importantly) are able to work there, they will be more likely to stay. Ryan was clearly flirting with disaster by restricting people's freedom of movement and forcing people who are, understandably, not happy anymore to stay in Rapture.- Similarly, banning the import of religious materials and other books that might run counter to Ryan's belief system was also a poor move. Apparently, when you ban something, people just want it more! You could also argue that people innately need culture/religion and by banning books you only serve to alienate people more from you as their leader. And obviously, by banning certain things you inadvertently help to develop the illicit trade of these items, which brings about other undesirable things such as organised crime.Ultimately, I think Andrew Ryan would have been better off if he had just built a mansion for himself under the sea. Not a city, just a house for himself. He could have stayed there for the rest of his life and arranged for contractors to come and do repairs, etc. under sworn secrecy.

I have loong been a fan of this franchise. From game one where I got the chain tattoo to do double duty of my zeal for the game and to remark on my leave from religion (no gods...)I had no idea this book weas even a thing ten years ago or I would have read it then, it is a prequel to bioshock. Where we lay the ground work for how Rapture came to be and the assorted cast of characters the you come across in the game.Because a lot of the characters in the game are only menitoned in recordings it's easy to forget them, but the book and the writer do a great job of fleshing them out some, especially our main man speaking with the queen's english. It didn't hurt that was was playing the game as I read the book...this helped me sink deeper into the mythos,, and I honestly relished it much more so. It helped make sense of things that didn't really seem to make sense in the game. LIke how automatic guns know it's you or a bad guy (the book explains this with the use of "flashers".This book is for anyone who loves the games of course, but also for anyone who enjoys and good sci fi read that takes places not in outer space but below those waves. It's surreal but it appeals to me. Always had a thing for "the deep".

If you play first person shooters, chances are you've played or seen or heard people exclaim over Bioshock and Bioshock 2, games that attained materpiece status by virtue of excellent gameplay and weapons, a compelling storyline and fascinating characters. This novel by award winning scifi author John Shirley is a fitting prequel to the games, giving the backstory to tycoon industrialist (and Ayn Randian hero) Andrew Ryan and the underwater city he built to escape the confines of law, religion and government -- Rapture. When the player enters the first game, the city is already under the tyranny of lawless splicers as well as several big players who are struggling for control. Splicers are humans who've altered their body chemistry in order to use plasmids -- powers that allow one's body to generate fire, ice, electricity, let one teleport, etc. And plasmids are developed and created using ADAM and EVE which in turn are farmed within the bodies of little girls who are guarded by humans altered for the task -- Big Daddies. It is a complex, fascinating world, and at least half the fun of the game is figuring out who did what to whom and why. This book introduces us to the major players whose actions will eventually lead to the downfall of Ryan's city, and presents a believable story about the events leading up to your entry into the game.The narration shifts among many characters familiar to the player. We learn, for instance, that Ryan wants people to record their experiences for posterity, and when you play the game, you often run across these audiodiary entries, sometimes more than one from the same character, so that as you travel through the game you piece together the stories of multiple men and women who once populated Rapture; some of the stories are heartbreaking, others are horrifying; and with this novel you get backstory on many of these people. While the game itself is amazingly three-dimensional, this book helps flesh it out even more. If you love Bioshock and can barely contain your excitement about the third instalment (due in December 2012), this will scratch that itch. I thought the author did a great job of putting together plausible stories that interweave the storylines found in the game. And while other reviewers seem nonplussed by the short shifting POV chapters, I thought this was a good approach, and I enjoyed the narrative.My problem with the book was the pacing and lack of action. The game is like a ten-ton locomotive barreling through high adrenaline situations; the book is a slow build to a known conclusion, and so lacks the excitement, action and tension of the game. That's to be expected -- a book is not a game. But I still found the book less compelling.The narrative is focused to a large extent on Bill McDonagh, a plumber who is hired by Ryan to come help build Rapture. The action of the novel takes place over 14 years, from Bill's entry onto the project team in 1945 until the time of the first game's beginning, 1959. I found his story quite interesting and his proximity to Ryan makes him an informative narrator. I also really enjoyed running into various characters whose diary entries I'd heard in the games. I wish there's been even more! Personally, I disagree that one has to play the game(s) first in order to enjoy the book. I think it could work either way. Alternatively, one could even play Bioshock 1, then read the book, then play Bioshock 2. It's all good!